Jacksons targets sandwich market with £40m factory

Vince Bamford
· 14 December, 2017

Yorkshire-based bakery Jacksons is investing £40m in a second factory to supply bread for sandwich manufacturers.

The business, which says it already makes 70% of the bread used in UK prepared sandwiches, is part of the William Jackson Food Group that also owns Aunt Bessie’s, Abel & Cole, MyFresh and The Food Doctor.

Jacksons already has planning permission for the facility, which will be built on a 10-acre site on the Willowbrook East Industrial Estate in Corby, which was purchased by the business in February this year.

Describing the factory as a ‘state-of-the-art bakery’ that would initially create around 100 new jobs, Jacksons said it had been designed specifically to make bread for sandwich manufacturers. Work on the factory has already started and it is set to be fully operational by summer 2018.

The business will continue to produce its branded bread – Jackson’s Yorkshire’s Champion – from its site in Hull, which opened in 1907. Sold in supermarkets, sales of the brand have grown in value every year since 2012 – bucking declines in the overall UK wrapped bread category.

“The new bakery will help us grow as a business and allow us to build on the work we do in Hull,” said Jacksons MD Simon Ball.

“We have a brilliant team working on the expansion project, and there’s a real buzz of excitement right across our business as we have the opportunity to create something really special, which will be at the forefront of bread-making in the UK.”

William Jackson Food Group chief executive Norman Soutar added that the group and its family shareholders have invested significantly in the Hull bakery over recent years, and continue to invest in the Hull site.

“We take a long-term approach to the individual businesses in the group, allowing them time to grow and develop and we’re very much looking forward to seeing how the next chapter of the bakery’s life unfolds,” he said.